Boy Scouts sued for $21 million over Oregon sex abuse allegations

Portland, Ore. – Three former Portland Boy Scouts are suing their a Portland-area Boy Scouts of America (BSA) chapter for $21 million.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim they were sexually abused by scout leader Calvin Malone in the mid-1970s. They allege the scout’s Cascade Pacific Council chapter was negligent in allowing Malone to be a leader within the organization.

Lawyers say from at least 1935, the BSA knew leadership positions were being used by predatory child molesters to groom and abuse children. The allegations claim the BSA created an internal “ineligible volunteer file” system to address the problem.

The defendants said the BSA discovered Malone had been sexually abusing and providing alcohol to scouts, prompting the opening of an ineligible volunteer file on the leader in approximately 1970. Despite this alleged knowledge, the BSA’s Cascade Pacific Council chapter still reportedly hired Malone as a paid youth workier in Portland in or around 1974. According to the complaint, his role was to “educate, mentor, befriend, counsel, and train young boys like plaintiffs in morality, patriotism, and various life skills.

According to attorneys, Malone used his position of trust and authority to sexually abuse the three plaintiffs. The alleged abuse occurred when the plaintiffs were 13, 11, and 10-years old respectively.

Lawyers representing the plaintiffs say the BSA destroyed their secret file ineligible volunteer file on Malone to hide his activities and avoid litigation. “The Boy Scouts knew that Calvin Malone was a danger to children, but they decided to let him back in anyway,” said attorney Stephen Crew. “They kept the danger to Portland area boy scouts a secret – including from the parents.”

Attorneys said this is just one of multiple cases based on the BSA’s secret internal file on pedophiles.

Plaintiffs in this case are seeking $12 million due to sexual battery of a child, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and fraud.

Malone was convicted for raping and molesting a child in 1993, according to the State of Washington. He remains confined at Washington State’s Special Commitment Center, also known as Sex Offender Island.